The Portland daily press., 1887-08-04
MIR. CURTIS GIVES 1T UP.
A Square Admission That Cleveland
Is Not Reformer.
The Story of How the Spoils are
Taken Elegantly Told.
The Proceedings of the Civil Service
Reform Association.

The Proceedi ngs of the Civil Service
Reform Association.
NEWPORT, r. l., Aug 3.-The annua
meeting of the National Civil Service Re
form Association opened here today. Mr.
George William Curtis delivered the annua
address. Mr. Curtis opened his addres,
with some remarks, both general and spe
cifc, upon the evils attendant upon tn,
spoils system, and the part that public opin
ion must take in the work of reform Aftel
deploring the action of Governor Ames o.
Massachusetts, in approving the bill exempt
Ing veterans from the operation of the STATE
Civil Service law, aud the hostile attitude o.
Governor Hill towards the reform commits
sion in New York, Mr.. Curtis proceeded al
follows:
Upon the progress of reform in the ma
tlonal service the special committee of the
league made its report at the end of March
Its general conclusions are expressed in one
OF the last sentences of the report: 'Muct
has been done of which as friends of reform
we have frankly expressed our unequiyoca
disappointment, and much also which has
justified the high expectations which were
based upon the declarations of the President
before his Inauguration. The future action
Of the administration upon this subject
therefore, will be watched with profound in
terest as determining the final public judg-
ment of its relation to Civil Service Reform.
The Committee alluded to the apprehension
ofsome earnest friends of reform that be-
fore the close of the administration a COM
paete partisan change in the service might
be effected. But it declared that the failure
of the administration in this respect would
not affect the value and significance of the
progress which the question of reform in the
CIVIL Service has already achieved.
TWO years ago, five months after the in
auguration of President Cleveland, remind
ed you that in considering the condition and
prospects of reform we viewed the question
not as supporters or opponents of his admin
1Stratlon, or OF any administration, but solely
as friends of Civil Service Reform. | said
also that reform had never been the distinct
i've policy of either of the great national par
ties. Now that two years have passed and
more than half the term of the administra-
tlon has expired it is in the same spirit and
with the same conviction that we are to look
at the situation. 1t is now possible / think
to Judge correctly the course of the admins
tratlon IN regard to reform, and | regret to
say that during the two years and five months
OF Its existence while the reform law has
Deen respected within its limited range, and
wnile there are unQuestiOnable and encour-
aging signs OF progress, yet according to in
iornatlon Which is undoubtedly authentic.
Lnere has.oeen avery significant change in the
ciyll CIV service. In some of the departments at
washington this is less apparent than else
W Where, But In survey of the whole service
there has been almost as complete a change
as was practicable, since an entirely new
force OF totally inexperienced officers would
nave prevented the regular transaction of the
public business.
"a few figures will illustrate the scope and
slgnihcance of the changes The number of
employees of the government of all kinds
in the official register, is about
$4,000 or 120,0Co OF these. about 1900 are
included in the classified service, which COW
ers ei1 ABOUT $500 places in the departments in
washington, and 1868 in the postal and Gus
toms service elsewhere, distributed among
twenty-eight post offices and eleven custom
houses. Outside the classified service all the
minor places are held at the pleasure of GER
tam superior officers, mainly postmasters,
conecIors Oh customs and internal revenue,
surveyors and other port officers, marshals,
district attorneys and land officers. These
are the effective agents when the service is
made political machine, and upon them a
very large proportion of the subordinate
places depend. To effect a virtual clean
sweep, therefore, the change of a certain
number and class of officers only is necessa-
ry. The number of chief officers, including
postmasters, collectors, land officers and
many others, is about 5000. OF these chief
Ofhcers, apparently about $1,000 or $4,000
have been changed, and the change in these
offices implies a change also in all places de-
pendent upon them. The changes cover
deaths, designations, justitiable dismissas
and reappointments upon expirations of
terms. OF about 24o0 presidential postmast-
ers who serve four years, very inconsider-
able number have been reappointed, and all
but 300 or 400 have been changed. All of the
90 internal revenue collectors have been dis
placed, and of the Ill collectors of customs
100 have been removed or not reappointed.
There are know 55,157 postoffices in the
States. OF these about 2400 are filled upon
of the President, and the term of
office is four years. The rest are filed at
pleasure by the postmaster general Ap-
polntments to all the offices are made upon
the death OF incumbents, upon changes of
names and sites, upon designations and the
expiration OF commissions, upen the estab-
lishment of new offices, and upon removals
and suspensions. Deaths are about one in
hundred during the year, and appointments
upon changes OF names and sites and the eS-
adjustment of new offises are very few.
During the first four months of the admins
tration the health of the first assistant post
master general who has charge of the offices
Wnlch are hlled by the postmaster general
was SO infirm that the mere routine work of
the ONCE was with difficulty accomplished,
ana arbitrary changes were therefore prob
ably fewer than might otherwise have been
the case. of the actual number of changes
Tor al canses in the postoffices of every
kind 1 have seen two statements, both of
which assume to be authentic One of them
states the whole number of changes to be
about AZ ,O0o, the other about 81, COO. Whether.
however, the larger or the smaller number
De more accurate. at the same rate of
change for the next two years the entire
epouy OF postmasters would be with very
lew exceptions politically changed, and with
the postmasters all the employees dependent
on them The result would not have been
accomplished, indeed, by clean sweep.
some PRESIDENTIAL officers might have served
out their terms, and very few, as in the
nappy instance of the postmaster of New
York, might be reappointed. But substan
TALLY the whole of this vast and universally
dlffnsed service, whose smaller offices are
the local headquarters of the administration
party and are often given to local editors,
whose newspapers are thus subsidized by
the government, would have undergone
complete partisan reconstruction"
After condemning the sweeping removals
OF the assistant heads of bureaus, chief
clerks and heads of divisions, officers who
are not but should be within the scope of the
civil service law; and after expressing conf
dence in the strong conviction and honest
purpose OF President Cleveland" while de-
ploring the Every general partisan recon-
struction of the national civil service" which
lie has been forced to concede to the de-
mand Of his party, Mr.. Curtis makes this
frank admission
But while we may believe, as / certainly
believe, that the President is an upright
who, looking at the vast and com
picated range of his duties as the chief exec
utiye ST great nation, has been unable to
that ne would have gladly done,-while we
may willingly acquit him of insincerity or
indifference, we must yet be as just to our
selves as to him. 1t would be a great wrong
to the cause of which the League is the au-
plainly and emphatically declare that it does
not regard the administration, however
worthy of respect and confidence for many